The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-08-28
WHAT HARD WORK WILL DO
How Three Men of Indomitable Energy
Have Earned Success in Business.
Prosperous Manufacturer and Wholesale
Baker-Story ola WellKnown Architect.

Cumberland, England, welcomed the advent OF
plump young stranger, had any idea that he,
duly christened as Benjamin Hetherington,
would receive hard knocks in the battle of
life as are usually going about He was in
Renious boy as he grew up, constantly tinker
Ing at all manner of things, and chock full OF
questions He came to America when fourteen
Eears old, and his first employment in
Massachusetts cottonfactory, where he was
more interested in the machinery than in the
fabrics it put together. lie was determined to
be a machinist, and finally. with much difficulty,
got place with a manufacturer of machins;s
tools in Worcester Having made considerable
progress in his trade he came West and went to
work for Reynolds. Kite G. Tatum, old
Quaker firm in Cincinnati, the head Of the firm
being the father of VIM. Reynolds.
Of the Denison Hotel, of this city.
who was a shoprate OF Mr.. Hetherington.
strike came on in the shop, and not wishing to
be connected with it Mr. Hetherington came to
Indianapolis and went to work for R. r. Under
bill, who had foundr5 where the Sinker &
Davis foundry now stands Anxious to make
start for himself, after awhile he went into part
nership with A. G. Searle, who had small shop
In the peg and last factory. now the Sarven
wheel works. Soon after, in 1857, general
panic and business failure went over the land.
Eearle died and the surviving partner lost the
shop and was $500 in debt Speaking of
that time, Mr.. Hetherington said his ueighbors
did not know it, but for days there was nothing
TO eat in his house. and his wife and himself
were almost starving. He finally got place to
work a Roots foundry. running small engine
and filing stove castings, all for remuneration
of 81 q week.
After time he went to work at the foundry
of Hasselman 81 Vinton at 50 week, and at
last fortune smiled upon him, and he actually
got place at the old l., G. & L. shops at So
for overtime, and earned money to pay off the
$500 of debt that hanging over him.
After time he bought little house to live IN
and began to think the backbone OF his ill-luck
was broken. He borrowed 5000 and went into
business again for himself, building small
shop near the gas-works. He bought little
engine for SIT and put it in this shop, which was
fourteen by twenty feet He worked alone.
carrying two barrels of water day from
pump some distance away. He was known as
good mechanic and work flowed IN upon
him. First he employed an appren-
tice, then another, and he had not
been in the shop three years before he had seven
men in his employ, and hardly room TO turn
round in the little shop. Mr.. Berner, his pres
emit PARTNER. happened TO come along about that
time from Cincinnati, with 81, 600. They put
their interests together and started small
foundry on South Pennsylvania street They
did very we'll until Mr.. Hetherington had an in
ducement from Sinker & Co., after Mr.. Sinkers
death, to go into that concern. lie remained
there three years One day he and his old part
ner, Mr.. Berner. came together and had a talk
over railing gazing into the waters of Pogue's
run, they were wondering where they could find
a location. As they raised their eyes, looking
south of the Union Depot, they saw a strip of
LAND South street extending down to
the run. 1. was covered with lumber
and was not altogether a very whole
they bought it for 50 900, $1,000 cash and the
mainder in payments. They bought an old
frame building moved IT upon upon the ground ana
building, which seemed to them very COM
modious. but it proved to small and they
are now finishing large and much needed brick
addition which will give them ample room for
their eighty workmen. The frame building was
destroyed by fire some years ago, but within
work with no roof over their heads as blithe as
If nothing had happened Two years later they
had another fire, but they were insured and re-
placed the frame that was destroyed with solid
brick building. They now make a great deal Of
architectural IRON work, railroad turntables and
other heavy work Mr.. Hetherington succeeded
in downing his i-luck after a long struggle and
is now prosperous manufacturer
Perthshire, in which Sir Walter Scott lay
much of the plot of his poem. 1.-THE Lady of the
Lake." and the scenery and dialect of which ap-
pears in many OF his novels, of them bearing
the title of 1.-THE Fair Maid of PERTH" is also
entitled to some credit on the score OF having
been the birthplace OF a weli-known citizen of
indianapolis. Peter Bryce, the baker, who was
born sixty-one years ago in the old town of
Doune A true Scot is Peter Bryce, whose jovi-
nj countenance shines through pair of great
shaggy snowy eyebrows and beard that is
fast getting white as the -four from which he
furnishes several thousand people their daily
bread. He served at the bakers trade in his
brothers shop at the Cross. in the good town of
Doune, from an early age until 1S43 when he
emigrated to America. He worked in three or
four different cities, and finally in 1847, settled
in Cincinnati. From that time he has been con-
tinuously at his trade, with the exception of
three years, when he was farming in Hamilton
county, near Cincinnati.
He came to Indianapolis in 1870 and bought
out the Aerated bakery speculation not in
tending to remain here, but he unable to
dispose OF it. as he had bought law suit, or, as
he himself said. "a very large white elephant"
He worked day and night to make the best of a
bad bargain. could neither sell his white ele-
plant nor give it away and sunk seven or eight
thousand dollars. By this time Mr. Bryce's
Scotch blood was up and he determined to win.
He applied himself harder than ever. People
like pluck, and tine tough little Scotchman, with
his indomitable will. began to find favor. His
business in creased, and once on the rise, every
body began to discover that the bread Peter
kneaded was the bread they needed. He now
runs eight wagons daily and uses nearly 200
publican ever elected to the City Council from
the Seventeenth ward and has been elected from
that ward three times.
Noticing the wagon of the Little Sisters OF
the Poor in front of the door of the bakery, a
Journal reported asked workman if they
bought bread there. ''Oh," replied the work
man. "they every day. The old man
(meaning Mr.. Bryce) gives them two loaves of
bread every day. he has for more than eight
years" Six hundred loaves of bread year is
contribution not to be sneezed at.
Some time ago MIR. Bryce was sounded as to
whether he would be a candidate for school
commissioner, and asked to how he was on
the German question. If We to that"
said the true Scot, I'm for Gaelic in the public
schools"
Very wide out and seemingly all the wider be-
pause of his height. which is not above medium,
is D. A. Bohlen. the well-known architect A
great many persons have taken his given name
to be David as a sort of matter OF course but it